The brewing process is a relatively lengthy one and besides the recipe many parameters along the way matter for the final result. Because of that a good brewer keeps notes on how a particulatr batch is prepared so he/she can fine-tune or trouble shoot it later.

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The brewing process is a relatively lengthy one and besides the recipe many parameters along the way matter for the final result. Because of that a good brewer keeps notes on how a particular batch is prepared so he/she can fine-tune or trouble shoot it later.

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===The Ten Steps of Brewing===

===The Ten Steps of Brewing===

Revision as of 15:07, 28 December 2012

Brewing beer at home is easily within the reach of just about everyone. You don't need any special skills to make beer; the process is really simple. If you can make macaroni and cheese or bake a cake, you can make beer. It's easy and safe, and legal in all but a few states. This guide, and the articles linked below, will walk you through each step in the process. You will find both simple instructions for beginners on making good beer, and more in-depth analysis and advanced techniques to help experienced brewers make great beer.

Brewing for Beginners

Brewing can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. Many homebrewers like to "geek out," getting very involved in the details of their beer. Others prefer a more laid-back, seat-of-the-pants approach. Whichever camp you fall into, though, it's probably a good idea to start out with a simple stovetop brew before moving on to a more advanced recipe.

The articles below are organized in ten steps. For each step, the accompanying article contains a section "For Beginners", which explains the basic procedures usually recommended for beginning home brewers. These procedures assume that you are brewing a recipe using malt extract and, optionally, steeping specialty grains, then performing a partial boil in a relatively small brew pot on a stovetop and fermenting in a plastic bucket fermenter. Don't worry; each of these terms is also explained in the appropriate section.

The brewing process is a relatively lengthy one and besides the recipe many parameters along the way matter for the final result. Because of that a good brewer keeps notes on how a particular batch is prepared so he/she can fine-tune or trouble shoot it later.

The Ten Steps of Brewing

The beer brewing process can be summarized in ten easy steps:

Preparing the Ingredients can be as simple as smacking a smack pack, or it can involve complicated questions of water chemistry.

Cleaning and Sanitation are surprisingly important, which can intimidate beginners, but modern cleaning and sanitizing products make it easy.

Making the Wort, as unfermented beer is called, can be done either by carefully extracting sugar from grain, or with malt extract, a kind of pre-made "instant wort".

Home Brewing Step By Step

Before beginning to brew, make sure that you have gathered all of the ingredients you will need. Some ingredients, notably yeast, will also require some special preparation in advance of your brewing day.

There is one thing that the homebrewer must not ever forget: all around us (and especially on us!), there are invisible bacteria, germs, and stray yeast, and they would all like to get into your beer and infect it. It is important to give your yeast a head start on fermentation before any of these other organisms can take hold. The most important way you can do this is through careful cleaning and sanitation of your equipment.

Sanitation is more than simple cleaning; chemical sanitizers (or, less frequently, extreme heat) must be used to reduce microbial life beyond what you can accomplish with soap and water. See the main article on Cleaning and Sanitation for detailed information on cleaning and sanitizing processes, products, and equipment.

The wort (pronounced "wert") is the sweet, sugary liquid that is fermented to produce beer. Wort can be made by mashing malted grains in water for specified times and temperatures. Mashing activates enzymes in the malt which convert starch into sugar. However, beginning homebrewers (and many more experienced homebrewers) can skip this step and begin brewing right away with pre-packaged malt extract, which is wort that has already been made and then concentrated for use by home and professional brewers.

After the wort has been created or collected, it is boiled together with hops and sometimes other ingredients. Among other things, boiling breaks down hop oils allowing them to dissolve, resulting in the flavor, aroma and bitterness which will carry over into the finished beer, and sanitizes the wort to prepare it for fermentation.

There are a few additional steps required to get the boiled wort ready for pitching:

The wort must be cooled to a temperature just below the ideal fermentation temperature for the strain of yeast being used. The temperature will rise slightly as the fermentation process begins. It is important to cool the wort quickly to cause lipids and proteins in the wort to flocculate (cold break )and drop out of solution to prevent off flavors and result in good clarity in the finished beer.

Enough oxygen must be introduced into the wort to allow for efficient fermentation. After pitching, yeast will reproduce until it uses up available oxygen and other nutrients. Adequate oxygen is necessary to achieve the proper yeast cell count for fermentation.

The term "pitching" refers to the rather simple act of adding yeast to the cooled wort. The specific steps you will need to follow will depend on whether you are pitching a new container of dry or liquid yeast, pitching yeast cultured from a commercial beer, or re-using yeast from a previous batch.

More information

More information on specific brewing steps, techniques, and practices can be found on this and other sites:

Common Problems and misconceptions

All of this may seem complicated to new brewers, and since brewing is an art as well as a science, it can be hard to tell at first when you've done everything right. New brewers will certainly have questions about the process; some will be answered by our list of Frequently Asked Questions.